Windows and ceiling

Test-fit for windows in the East Wall

We're back, after a month away from Clydesdale.  It's good to be back, and I was  happy to see that the shed is still standing.  More than standing - it had sprouted a set of windows of its own accord!

TJ framed up the windows in a few days before I arrived, putting them in exactly the spot we chose using the "TLAR method".  So this is the first thing I saw when I arrived yesterday afternoon, and I was pretty chipper about it.

There was misty rain all day today.  It would have been miserable trying to build with mud, so instead we used the day to fix the droopy ceiling.

The ceiling is made of Solomit Strawboard, and it's one of the very few purchased new items in the shed.  Solomit is made in Western Victoria, out of wheat stalks left over after the harvest.  It smelled sensational when it arrived - like freshly mown grass, only even sweeter.  It has all sorts of thermal and acoustic insulation properties, it's non-toxic and I think it's very pretty.

But we didn't attach it using the best method, so it looked pretty ordinary.

Before - saggy ceiling

Today we sanded and oiled some 2nd hand mountain ash boards, cut them to size and screwed them to the ceiling batons from below.  They're very strong, and in some spots they've lifted the ceiling by 3cm.

After - 6 x 3m four-be-ones

It was a big deal to buy these boards, because we dragged all the other hardwood in the building out of rubbish skips on renovation sites in Melbourne.  But these boards are very visible, so I wanted them to be good quality, and not so dark they detract from the very pretty Solomit.

Next weekend if the weather lets us, we'll be mudding again.  There are five big buckets of mud mixed and waiting.  Now the window is framed up, the East Wall suddenly looks achievable!